Ten pounds in five months. That's what I've lost. Ten measly little pounds. I would give up if I weren't so deathly afraid of carbs. I never cheat. I never eat grain products. I don't eat potatoes. I've almost compleatly given up AS. I keep my fat up and my protein down, and I average 1700 cals a day. I have no idea what to do next. Edited to add that I keep my carbs absolutely under 20, most days under 15, and I do resistance excercise five days a week. on the other two days I walk several miles, and swim. Vigorously.

Two pounds a month is excellent. Any more than that and you would have been losing more than just body fat. Such as lean body mass and you don't want that. When I was losing I think I lost 1/2lb a month. Hang in there, losing actual body fat without losing lean mass takes time and patience. Sounds like you are doing fine.

For real? It's supposed to be like this? I keep hearing about people who lose a hundred pounds in a year....or at least 60. I have yet to have anything remotely like this happen. And I've been stuck at a size sixteen since the end of June. I know, it might take me a few months to go down but they've barely gotten looser. Okay, they have gotten a little bit loser, but... I'm whining. I'm a thirty seven year old woman whining in her living room.

But I'm having curried pork for supper. Without carbs. I guess that's all that matters.

Hang in there Jackie! I know it's so frustrating, when you're doing everything right and the scale isn't doing what you want it to. Just check for hidden carbs in whatever you are eating. Keep it simple, stick to meat, eggs, and cheese. Your clothes are looser, so it is working, just not as quickly as we'd all like.

Well your plan sounds rock solid to me. Good for you for doing so much vigorous exercise! The only thing I can think of is maybe you are eating some hidden carbs that you aren't aware of. Bacon is ALMOST ALWAYS cured with sugar. Then there's worcestershire sauce, mayo, etc. that can have hidden things. I'm not saying this is your problem, but it's all I can think of. To be honest, none of these miniscule carbs sounds like it could be stalling you THIS much, but it's all I can come up with.

Punkin said 2 pounds a month was fine. Ouch. Not for me. I would be pulling what's left of my hair out, and I don't blame you for being frustrated, either. Just hang in there and don't give up.

Yeah...I wish it were hidden carbs. I buy gwaltney bacon because it is the only one I can buy without sugar. I don't eat condements. Except mustard. And not that often. I had a quarter cup of pizza sauce with my chicken sausage last night, but I counted all carbs. And I made sure the sausage didn't have sugar. Or dextrose. Or corn syrup. I can go overboard a little with the veggies. But we're talking maybe ten grams, not crazy. I've actually given up most veggies for the duration. I don't even have salad anymore. I would give up dairy, but I don't go over board. I have two tbs plus one quarter cup hwc( only when I make curry or cream sauce) and never more than four oz cheese- usually two. I count the carbs in coffee and assume two grams for spices. And I don't go over two thousand calories anymore- I average 1700, am usually between 1500 and 1700.

I eat three meals a day. Sometimes I will have an oz of cheese an hour or so after dinner. Buy the same choice bottled water at wal mart(I think it's
32 20oz bottles.) and I'm slam out at the end of the week. Like I said, sometimes I will go overboard- but overboard is 25 total carbs. I'm afraid it might be dairy.... But I've given up everything else. I refuse to give up dairy. Or coffee. Or cream in my coffee. And before I forget to say it, thank you, everyone, for the advice and encouragement.

It does suck! I agree with you! Especially when we see others losing a Lot of weight. I've Yo-yo'd so much since december! I personally had to quit eatting so much. I will have a good sized breakfa
st, smaller lunch then a small supperand that is what Finally started me losing again. Then saturday (last sat) I had chinese for lunch and found those wonderful hidden sugars and carbs and Bam right back up 5 lbs! Frustrating as heck! I Hate to say it but keep going! We can NOT give up! It's Not an option!

Could it be all the exercise you are doing? Do not get me wrong exercise is wonderful and a must to stay healthy, but like anything else it needs to be done in moderation. Resistance training 5 days a week and all that walking and swimming has got to be affecting your muscles and by affecting I mean making them bigger and stronger which causes them to get bigger/weigh heavier and retain water.

I know when I focused purely on weight lifting/resistance exercises I lost very little each week or worse, gained 0.2-1lb a week. BUT when I changed my focus to cardio (jumping rope or walking) 2-3x a week but never more than 3x during the week, I consistently lost weight.

Not saying that exercise is the "problem," but you may want to add an extra day or 2 of recovery instead of exercise and see if that makes a difference.

If you are DETERMINED to make the scale move, there are some other things you could try. It depends on if you are a "slow and steady wins the race" type person or a "any means necessary." You have IF, JUDDD, carb cycling, Shangri La, potato hacking. Maybe your body is just bored and needs a "shock" to get it going? If I were in your shoes I'd be frustrated enough to be trying any and all of the above, but YMMV.

Have you considered that there may be a hidden health challenge affecting you? Thyroid issues , adrenal insufficiency, insulin resistance or pcos come to mind. Maybe you could get some blood tests done at the doctors. Make sure you get a full thyroid panel , often doctors just order tsh.

Okay, just to throw more conflicting advice at you, but...that doesn't sound like enough calories for all the exercise you are doing. Unless you are, maybe, 4'8". Maybe you need to eat MORE?

And just because it has worked so well for me...have you looked at JUDDD? Lots of good information on the thread here. (I am a late 40s woman, 5'8", down from 202 -> 174 in six months, and still going strong.)

Thanks for the advice, all. And I am losing inches. Slowly, but my jeans are not as tight as when I first started wearing them. I do excercise a lot. I'm kind of addicted to it. I have been thinking it might be better to take a day off. And maybe I should go to the doctor again. I'm sure she just ordered the standard tests. That's all she ever does. And then insinuates that I must be scarfing twinkies, which is why I'm not losing weight. As if I would ever touch wheat. ( shudder). I changed my body wash because it had wheat in it.

As far as Judd and carb cycling goes- I don't respond well to carbs, in any form. It usually takes me a month to recover. I have tried IF, I admit with good results, but I felt bad. I wasn't able to excercise as much as I want, and I had brain fog. I couldn't concentrate at work. I'm not sayin that I would never IF on the regular, but I'm not there yet. I refuse to eat in such a way that makes me feel bad. I did that for too many years. I have cut my calories down in the past, but it's not sustainable for me. I can handle a minimum of fifteen hundred. Given the excercise I'm doing, a conservative estimate of the calories I'm burning is 2500 a day. That's a deficit of 1000 calories. That should be enough. If it isn't, I'm going to cry.

first of all good Sunday morning . Strange as that may sound if you lose slowly exercise may be counterproductive. Ketosis is a strange beast and does not happen in 4 days or 4 weeks . For most it takes nigh on 3 months. What do I mean by that? Your most important functions get covered by the body almost immediately. That is where the 4 days come from and the carb flu. The rest of the adaption is slower. Now if you decide to wriggle furiously your third toe from the left you are leaving your body bemused as it has not catered for running this muscle on ketones yet so the first thing it signals to the brain is food shortage .Your body has its own schedule of what it considers muscle that is needed to be converted to ketone fuel as a priority .
This means that depending on how adapted you are even eating right you might be in starvation mode as far as what your body perceives .

Take a weeks rest and see what happens. Another thing you could try is shifting around what you eat when . I have an enormous breakfast of protein for example and am considering shifting to enormous fat based breakfast.

I completely understand your impatience. Since starting here I lost 18 lbs.Read my journal and you will not feel so alone .
Good luck.

Edit: Never mind the doc . She has her own issues if she is that judgemental. Put on ignore!

You know.. I have never tried Judd. Maybe I should check it out- I might not get the brain fog with cycling calories like I do with If. I did loose a lb that day I ate the French silk pie. But that could be an outlier. I'm afraid that eating more will make me gain weight.

This lends weight to my theory. Brain fog is sign of keto adaptation still in process. Losing when your body can latch on to easy carbs ( the french silk pie sounds yum by the way) makes me think that your body is desperate for fuel it can use and only relaxes when it gets what it knows . Definitely cut back on exercise and if you absolutely have to then exercise around 4 or 5pm . The time of exercise does not do anything for the fuel incompatibility but is more in line with your circadian cycle and you will be exercising whn you have the most energy available.

You may have a point- and I am so sensitive I have to keep my carbs really low, if I go over 25 total I'll kick myself out. Maybe with the occasional extra veggies or yogurt I'm kicking myself out of ketosis. When I restrict my cals I almost always am super strict on carbs- less than ten total per day.

And just to clarify-it was a low carb French silk pie. It hat twelve carbs, I believe- still, twelve carbs at once is a lot for me.

I see that you have gone from size 22 to 16. That must represent more than a ten pound loss, so how did you lose that weight? Were you doing something else before you started low carb?

If you got that much smaller and lost only 10 pounds, then you must be building muscle, which is great. Try to focus on size rather than weight.

My dh was having trouble losing until I suggested he eliminate dairy for a while. He stopped eating cheese and cream, and starting putting butter in his coffee instead of cream. Amazingly, the scale starting moving down! I know you don't want to give up dairy, but you might try it for a month and see what happens.

Different people are sensitive to different things. It may be processed meats (hot dogs, sausage, etc). Try changing one thing at a time for at least two weeks and see what happens.

Best of luck to you! I'm glad you're feeling better with this WOE.

__________________
"At the end of the day, at the end of the week, I'll only regret what I ate - not what I didn't eat." -- Linda Glein